Casey’s law

• Information on Casey’s Law at www.transitionsky.org. Click on tab labeled Casey’s Law in the right-hand column. • If you see Candice Williamson, call the dispatch center of the police jurisdiction in which you see her. Her mother also offered her number, 859-409-5992.

She bolted from her mother’s Bromley house last month and went back to the streets and to heroin, her mother said. She came back briefly but has now been missing for 10 days.

Kenton District Court Judge Ann Ruttle had ordered Williamson into treatment for heroin addiction after her mother, Robin Knott, filed a Casey’s Law petition that allows parents or friends to request mandated treatment for a refusing adult.

Ruttle’s order dated May 8 said Williamson could face a contempt of court warrant if she left her mother’s custody before June 1 or failed to get into Transitions Inc. Droege House, a detox center, by that date.

It’s uncertain whether Williamson ever called the Droege House in Dayton, although she was calling weekly to the Chrysalis House in Lexington, a destination for post-detox treatment, her mother said.

Park Hills police have classified Williamson as a missing person, and her mother is placing missing person posters about her daughter in areas Candice has been known to frequent.

“I don’t sleep,” Knott said.

Every night, she checks jails in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky to see if Candice has been picked up by police.

Trouble surfaces when she sneaks out of mother's house

The trouble with Williamson surfaced the third week of June. She sneaked out of her mother’s house and returned “high as a kite,” her mother said. The two had it out.

A couple of days later, Williamson disappeared again. Her mother contacted The Enquirer, frantic.

“Oh yeah, she took off,” Knott said. “Hopefully they get her before something really bad happens.”

Knott informed Kenton County District Court of Williamson’s disappearance with the hope that Ruttle would sign a warrant for her daughter.

Before any decision was made, Knott received a desperate call from her daughter on June 24.

“My Candice called me at 3:30 a.m.,” she said.

Knott drove as fast as she safely could to reach her sobbing daughter in Over-the-Rhine. Williamson had been ditched by friends on Vine Street. She was alone and frightened.

Williamson was scheduled for an unrelated court hearing June 28 in Boone County Circuit Court. She faces a charge of receiving stolen property for trying to sell electronics at a pawn shop. Her attorney was confident he could get the charge reduced to a misdemeanor if Williamson appeared in court.

Instead, she left her mother’s home again – just two days before the hearing, and she hasn’t returned since.

Determined to find her daughter, Knott rifled through Candice’s bedroom, found a list of names and numbers and began calling Candice’s friends.

One said he’d dropped off Williamson near a heroin dealer’s apartment in Covington, and without a second thought, Knott and Candice’s grandmother Bonnie Whitehead drove to the apartment at night. They pounded on doors until they recognized the alleged dealer by a description they had received.

He insisted Williamson hadn’t been there and allowed Knott to search his place.

“She wasn’t there,” Knott said.

Boone County issued a felony warrant June 28 for Williamson’s arrest after she failed to show up in court.

Sheriff’s spokesman Tom Scheben said any law enforcement agency in the region would see the warrant should they stop Williamson.

Park Hills Police Chief Cody Stanley said his agency is not actively searching for Williamson, but police who stop her could learn of her missing status.

“If an officer comes in contact with her and if they run her information for any reason, they will see the missing persons report,” Stanley said.

A lack of treatment and coordinated efforts?

Knott went to Park Hills police Wednesday, a few days after learning that Ruttle decided against signing a contempt-of-court warrant on Williamson.

Ruttle said she had no reason to do so.

“This is a civil case,” the judge said. “It’s not a criminal action. Jail is not the answer anyway,” Ruttle said.

At the time of her Casey’s Law hearing in May, Williamson had no criminal record, and the judge said the adult teenager would have been “a low-risk person (placed) in a high-risk situation” if she were jailed in the Kenton County Detention Center.

Knott said she wasn’t sure whether Candice was calling Droege House to see if a bed was available, as required by the court order. Staff there said she would have had no trouble getting into the facility had she called.

“She definitely would have been able to get in,” said Transitions Inc. Assistant Executive Director Karen Hargett. She said because Droege House is strictly for detox for women, the turnaround of bed availability is generally no more than seven days.

After detox, the patient moves into long-term treatment. Knott said her daughter may not have called the Droege House because she’d detoxed herself simply by stopping her use of heroin before she was ordered to undergo treatment.

According to Williamson’s mother, Candice did call the Chrysalis House in Lexington about long-term treatment before she disappeared.

Chrysalis House Clinical Director Dr. Carmella Yates said the waiting list for the women’s substance abuse treatment center “can be quite extensive” and due to privacy laws could not say how long Candice may have had to wait.

Wethington was crestfallen upon learning Williamson was missing.

“I am so sorry that Robin (Knott) didn’t call me,” she said. Wethington is Transitions Inc.’s recovery advocate and has helped hundreds of parents get through the Casey’s Law process.

Wethington plans to add more information to online instructions about using Casey’s Law in case “the steps aren’t specific enough.”

Physicians, emergency room staff, paramedics, treatment providers and law enforcement in Northern Kentucky have lamented the lack of treatment availability in the region for months. They blame a lack of funding from state and federal sources as well as the recent heroin epidemic that has Northern Kentucky in a choke hold.

Dr. Jeremy Engel, a Bellevue physician and public health activist, called the Williamson situation “another missed opportunity” to help someone.

“The devastation caused by the heroin epidemic is now well documented and felt by many in Greater Cincinnati,” Engel said. “It is now time that all of the regional stakeholders work together to develop a plan of action to intervene. ...Together we can succeed; apart we will continue to fail to protect our families and communities.”

In Northern Kentucky, some addicts seeking treatment have had to wait up to six months to be enrolled in a treatment center.

Judge Ruttle said all of the Northern Kentucky judges are aware that more treatment options are needed here. “Whatever facilities we have are filled to the brim,” she said.

The judge said she feels for Knott. “I can’t even imagine what she’s going through. I wish I had a magic wand.”

Williamson celebrated
being clean while it lasted

Before she bolted last month, Williamson seemed confident she could make it without treatment.

“Thanks everyone for all the positive feedback. I hope my story helps at least one person then I’ve accomplished enough,” she wrote. “I’m happy to say I am now 24 days clean and am starting to rebuild my life.” ⬛

I write the human side of issues that affect people in Covington, Newport and Campbell County. Email me at tdemio@nky.com